Beware 'HMRC' phone scams - surge in calls telling victims they owe taxman £1,000s - MSE News

oldagetraveller

"Why doesn't HMRC actually do something about these scum? Like find them, prosecute them and then absolutely take everything they have as punishment?"
Probably because they are chasing people who have made the slightest error on their tax return.
Or even ensuring those with offshore accounts etc. are left well alone.

thebigstillmeister

londoninvestor wrote: »

Out of interest, what do they try to get out of you in those car accident calls? I've had a few but they always hang up as soon as I speak - I need to practice my innocent, unsuspecting sounding voice I guess

I had a few weeks where I just kept getting them, womens voice pretending to actually be a real person, a small pause to let you say hello, then says 'we've heard you've recently been in an accident is that right?', then there is a pause, so i few times i said yes,. and you get through

First guy answered and I asked him to confirm which vehicle it is as I have several, he said, er, im afraid I dont have that on record, so then asked him according to his details where I had been hit, and he said,. er, back left? hung up at that point,

second time guy asked if I had been injured, I said yes, he asked what the injury was, so I said unfortunately it was fatal and I had died,. I waited to see how long he paused before i hung up again,

Got bored after that and just blocked all the numbers, seems to have finally stopped,

bubblesbonbon

The Daily Mail had an article regarding these goons - if you can be bothered to read it...


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6824093/How-fake-taxmen-targeted-64-year-old-mourning-mothers-death-scam-19-000.html

londoninvestor

thebigstillmeister wrote: »

second time guy asked if I had been injured, I said yes, he asked what the injury was, so I said unfortunately it was fatal and I had died,. I waited to see how long he paused before i hung up again,

I have also just died :rotfl::rotfl:

crlister

Would it not be possible for some-one as influential as Martin Lewis to try speaking to the BBC and ITV and ask them to include at least the big scams into their news programs
The more people that know about these scams the less likely they are to be caught out by them
Also if the scammers know that most people are aware of what they are doing then they would probably be less likely to pursue their illegal activity
Programs like Watchdog do try to make people aware but they are only on intermittently where-as the news programs are on everyday and possibly attract a much wider audience
Surely this must be worth a try

eskbanker

crlister wrote: »

Would it not be possible for some-one as influential as Martin Lewis to try speaking to the BBC and ITV and ask them to include at least the big scams into their news programs
The more people that know about these scams the less likely they are to be caught out by them
Also if the scammers know that most people are aware of what they are doing then they would probably be less likely to pursue their illegal activity
Programs like Watchdog do try to make people aware but they are only on intermittently where-as the news programs are on everyday and possibly attract a much wider audience
Surely this must be worth a try

Too simplistic!

News programmes have a remit to disseminate news about events at home and abroad.

The likes of Watchdog and Martin Lewis's show are suitable platforms for stuff like scam alerts IMHO - just because news bulletins are higher profile, that doesn't make them an appropriate vehicle for relaying repeated 'public information film' style warnings about the latest flavours of scam (of which this is just one of many), and if news programmes were to be hijacked for such purposes then they'd lose both credibility and audience share....

crlister

So in your opinion the British Public would not be interested in how to avoid being scammed out of their hard earned money
I am not suggesting that a large proportion of the program should be dedicated to this topic but just a quick mention of the latest scams which could quite easily take the place of one of the constant reminders of their "Main Story" which I have just watched anyway or even a brief mention at the end of the program on a weekly basis would help
I obviously do respect your views about my suggestion but something needs to be done about this - we may all think that we are clever enough to spot these scams but obviously people are still being caught out - the banks are trying their best but ultimately it is not their fault if I give my details to a total stranger
There needs to be more warnings given by all media types to help to try and at least reduce the impact this is having on honest people who have worked hard for their money

Neil_Jones

crlister wrote: »

So in your opinion the British Public would not be interested in how to avoid being scammed out of their hard earned money
I am not suggesting that a large proportion of the program should be dedicated to this topic but just a quick mention of the latest scams which could quite easily take the place of one of the constant reminders of their "Main Story" which I have just watched anyway or even a brief mention at the end of the program on a weekly basis would help

Realistically at the end of the day we all need to take responsibility for our own actions and we don't need what is effectively a mini PIF announcement at the end of the Ten o'clock news.

And in any case it doesn't matter if a reminder is broadcast at the end of the news or ad nauseum on a 24/7 cable/satellite channel called The Scam Channel or whatever, people are still going to get scammed no matter how much one rams warnings down their throat.

I obviously do respect your views about my suggestion but something needs to be done about this - we may all think that we are clever enough to spot these scams but obviously people are still being caught out - the banks are trying their best but ultimately it is not their fault if I give my details to a total stranger

Indeed its not their fault - it would be your fault. In days of old we'd probably get scammed and run off to find PC Plod to report and deal with it, these days we complain to the Daily Mail instead.

News media is not an appropriate outlay for "be aware" notifications. That's what Watchdog and friends is for. But constantly reminding people about things is the same effect as Brexit - we hear about it all day every day for the last three years, we're all sick to the back teeth of it and I dare say we all tune out. By constantly running "be aware" notifications it will have the same effect.

There needs to be more warnings given by all media types to help to try and at least reduce the impact this is having on honest people who have worked hard for their money

With all due respect, no there doesn't for reasons I've just explained. Not everybody has access to all media - newspapers don't go to every house, not everybody has internet or a TV.

eskbanker

crlister wrote: »

So in your opinion the British Public would not be interested in how to avoid being scammed out of their hard earned money

Strawman argument; I said no such thing.

My point was specifically that the main news programmes aren't an appropriate vehicle for such awareness-raising, as their remit is to report actual news....

tempus_fugit

crlister wrote: »

So in your opinion the British Public would not be interested in how to avoid being scammed out of their hard earned money

They're not already as evidenced by the number of people that are still not aware of these scams until they get scammed.